Ukraine to adapt its economy to situation in EU and Eurasian Customs Union

"Any opportunity to ensure a steady development of the economy and reliability of the financial system is important" Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov said

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Photo EPA/ITAR-TASS

KIEV, July 11 (Itar-Tass) - Ukraine does not set the EU market in an opposition to that of the CIS Customs Union but it seeks to adapt the national economy to the situation that has taken shape in the EU and the Customs Union member-state likewise, Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov said Thursday at a session of the cabinet of ministers.

“The Ukrainian economy experienced the impact of discouraging external factors in the first six months of the year,” Azarov said. “The world economy continues shrinking and that’s why we have to look for an alternative on the foreign markets urgently and to work towards making our foreign trade more balanced.”

What really matters in the current situation is not the bigger or smaller importance of either the EU or the Customs Union market, he said.

“Any opportunity to ensure a steady development of the economy and reliability of the financial system is important for us and the claims by opposition politicians on the absence of interest towards cooperation with the Customs Union countries testifies either to the real level of their commitment to the state or to the level of their economic competence,” Azarov said.

He voiced the hope that collaboration between the Ukrainian government and the Customs Union countries /Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan/ will be predictable and will produce better results after the appointment of Ukraine’s plenipotentiary representative to the board of the Eurasian Economic Commission.

Azarov also spoke about the importance of boosting the reassuring tendencies in economic development.

“We must foster the encouraging economic tendencies - investing in the manufacturing sector, creation of new jobs, assimilation of energy-effective technologies, substitution of imports and the resultant rise of social standards coupled with an increase of the domestic market capacity,” he said.